Sprott calls out the World Gold Council

Accusations of a critical shortfall in gold have rocked the market, says Simon Popple. And if right, it can only mean one thing for the gold price.

As I'm sure you're aware, there's been some interesting activity in the gold market of late. Despite the lack of tapering and fundamentals screaming for a higher price progress to date has been somewhat muted. At the close on 1 November, the price reads $1,307.

Needless to say, we're still contrarian investors. And there are plenty in the market trying to talk the price down. Goldman Sachs recently went out on a bit of limb predicting a fall in the gold price to $1,144 per ounce in 2014. But their rationale for lower prices looks feeble.

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Mine production1,3832,765GFMS
less Chinese domestic production270440China Gold Association
less Russian domestic production122183WBMS
Total mine production excluding China & Russia9912,142Row 3 - Cell 3
Hong Kong net exports to China7161,074Hong Kong Census
Net imports to Hong Kong471707Hong Kong Census
Thailand - net imports157313UN Comtrade statistics
Turkey - net imports124248UN Comtrade statistics
India - net imports5511,102UN Comtrade statistics
Central Banks - change in reserves216431IMF
Other countries - jewellery, coin and bar demand6551,309GFMS
Total demand2,8905,184Row 11 - Cell 3
Gold recycling6721,344GFMS
ETF outflows724917Bloomberg
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Simon is an expert in investing in gold and commodities which he shares for our MoneyWeek readers. He studied at the University of Surrey where he achieved a business degree and a marketing diploma. After taking his studies further and doing an MBA at Birmingham University, Simon was the first MBA student offered an internship in the U.S. Since then, Simon has been a part of the Senior Banker team at ABN Amro where he became the founding member of their Financial Sponsors team, and then joined Strutt and Parker Financial Services where he was appointed as Head of Investment Management. He also became a director at one of the world’s biggest private property companies, Topland. Simon Popple has written for MoneyWeek and Agora Financial.